Intentions to Marry, 1921 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840503, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1921h contains pages 3127-3538, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3253

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Oamaru Registrar B. B. Chisholm

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

2 July 1921

James Waters
Elizabeth Jane Searle

James Waters
Elizabeth Jane Searle
💍 1921/4574

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Factory Manager
Domestic

31
27

Puniko, Taranaki
Oamaru

27 years
27 years

Columba Church, Oamaru

7893

2 July 1921

Rev. Walter McLean, M.A., Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	2 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Waters	Elizabeth Jane Searle
	💍 1921/4574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Manager	Domestic
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Puniko, Taranaki	Oamaru
Length of Residence	27 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Columba Church, Oamaru
Folio	7893
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, M.A., Presbyterian

11 July 1921

Roe Allen Barr
Margaret Sarah McNally

Roe Allen Barr
Margaret Sarah McNally
💍 1921/4575

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

20
22

Windsor
Windsor

12 years
9 years

St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru

7894

Mary Murray, Mother

11 July 1921

Rev. J. D. Russell, Anglican

No	56
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roe Allen Barr	Margaret Sarah McNally
	💍 1921/4575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Windsor	Windsor
Length of Residence	12 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	7894
Consent	Mary Murray, Mother
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Russell, Anglican

11 July 1921

Robert James Lowrey
Gertrude Mary Foster

Robert James Lowrey
Gertrude Mary Foster
💍 1921/4577

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
18

Ngapara
Oamaru

24 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. William Lowrey, Till Street, Oamaru

7895

Mary Foster, Mother

11 July 1921

Rev. Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

No	57
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Lowrey	Gertrude Mary Foster
	💍 1921/4577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Ngapara	Oamaru
Length of Residence	24 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. William Lowrey, Till Street, Oamaru
Folio	7895
Consent	Mary Foster, Mother
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Watson, Presbyterian

13 July 1921

Henry Dobson
Agnes Violet Le Oretta Mulhern

Henry Dobson
Agnes Violet Le Cretta Mulhern
💍 1921/4578

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
25

Island Cliff
Oamaru

29 years
6 days

Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru

7896

19 July 1921

Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	58
Date of Notice	13 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dobson	Agnes Violet Le Oretta Mulhern
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Dobson	Agnes Violet Le Cretta Mulhern
	💍 1921/4578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Island Cliff	Oamaru
Length of Residence	29 years	6 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Basilica, Reed Street, Oamaru
Folio	7896
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Daniel O'Connell, Roman Catholic

14 July 1921

Walter John Taylor
Alice Maude Shugg

Walter John Taylor
Alice Maude Shugg
💍 1921/4579

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

30
21

Duntroon
Oamaru

19 months
12 years

Newborough Anglican Church, Oamaru

7897

14 July 1921

Rev. Wallace Victor Willis, Anglican

No	59
Date of Notice	14 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Taylor	Alice Maude Shugg
	💍 1921/4579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Duntroon	Oamaru
Length of Residence	19 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Newborough Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	7897
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wallace Victor Willis, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).